[Rustic Pavilion at Eaux-Bonnes]

William Henri Gebhard

1854 · Salted paper print from paper negative · Photographs

Having taken lessons from Gustave Le Gray in Paris, this gentleman photographer traveled to Pau, a city in the foothills of the Pyrenees. His now disbound album of photographs of the region tells us very little about the man who signed his negatives W. H. G. except that he was more interested in architecture than in mountains and that he was not yet very practiced in his new hobby. However, on a good day in the historic spa site of Eaux-Bonnes, not far from the Spanish border, he did manage to make a wonderful picture by marrying the rough texture of his paper negative to the shag of a thatched pavilion and the vegetation around it.

Artist

William Henri Gebhard

Date

1854

Medium

Salted paper print from paper negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Purchase, Mrs. Walter Annenberg and The Annenberg Foundation Gift, 2005